Thursday, December 8, 2011

Woman's Day Miss Country Girl Australia 2011, thirty finalists, thirty Australian country girls putting their hopes on the line.. I am certainly getting the feeling that the beauty pageant has returned to Australia and is here to stay for the immediate future at least.

Yes this pageant has cast its net very wide indeed to let the girls who are not closeted in the city; a chance for country girls to shine and perhaps be the next Miranda Kerr, a country girl herself; top modelling talent is out there!

This was a very well run show (other than the inclusion of the very annoying steady cam operator who was everywhere-all-the-time); how so many young contestants managed this hours long final with its pretty complex E-on-its-back runway is a mystery to me but they did and they did it well. Or perhaps it had something to do with family support which I am pleased to say was very much in evidence on the night.

It is tough on the contestants, you do have to put your heart and hopes on the line. Congratulations to winner Belinda Adams and all the contestants; you are all winners in Street Fashion Sydney's eyes! I am very much looking forward to following the careers of those who made it through (and some who will make their own way). And I am equally looking forward to Miss Country Girl Australia in 2012.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Looking at photography and art over the last 4 weeks; or something like that...

Well I clearly did not make it to every photography show in town in the last month but I did make it to a few and some other art events as well including Elodie Silberstien's White Ribbon Day performance piece which I had the pleasure of shooting the promotional photographs for..

But lets go back to the 11 11, always an important calandar day (forget fashion parades at Northies...) and the launch date for what I think it would be fair to call the most recent installment in North Sullivan's ongoing urban/community portrait project. This time titled 'Doorstop Portraits in Glebe' it was a porch project incorporating the immediate architecture or the 'sitters' front porch or veranda; all shot on an iPhone 4 (!!!) and beautifully printed. I have long admired much of the council housing of the Glebe area and North has captured this architecture as beautifuly as he has the residents themselves. Some of the shots are a wee tad on the sentimental side but what can I say, they work! Lovingly crafted community projects like this is something Sydney needs more of. You can still see much of the show online here, 'Doorstop Portraits in Glebe'.

Next up I attended 'Round 2' A.R.P Artists Residency Program on Oxford Street. I am becoming a big fan of Rachel Park's work since first seeing her installation piece at SNO in 2010. lets face it anyone who can use that much toilet paper is MORE than a legend in their own bathroom and Rachel is taking it to the world!

I can't say I felt the same about Anna Laerkesen's photographs from her 'Strangelands' series, one of which you can see reflected in the mirror in the gallery shot below. It was the first of two occasions reported here where I was quite deeply conflicted over what I saw, on this occasion a fairly low technical quality & inconsistency of approach to the photography that seemed to undermine the artist's intent. Or perhaps it was just me... How can you love waving toilet paper and be deeply conflicted over a few photographic prints? Well it's all in how you look at it.

I also took a look at Cherine Fahd's laneway text art which scopes about a modern paranoia; of course there were a few jokes made at the arts expense but I suspect Cherine would have been quite OK with that.

On 26th November as part of White Ribbon day Memorium #2. This would have to be one of the first times where part of the art was the delivery of information about the death of women (and some men) from domestic violence! The procession began with Patricia rather aptly singing Summertime (and the living is easy) from Porgy & Bess "...It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, the drug dealer."

Next was Dan Stock's 'Echoes of Unknown Thought' at index space; large prints of Dan's photographs of rare (mostly military use) Valves; which for those of you unfamiliar with the history of electronics were the larger less stable precursor to the transistor-which eventually made portable computing possible! And this was the second look-at-photography this month that left me feeling a little uncomfortable with the technical side of the art process.

Still I got more of an impression that Dr Dan Stock was more of a fan of the Valve and the giant (or fairly large) prints were more of an Homage, a bloody big fanzine to 'The Valve' which was great as I am quite a big fan myself! Not to mention is was nice to talk to someone who knows that William Shockley (along with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain) invented the first-world-powerhouse, the Transistor. And that Steve Jobs actually invented nothing at all...

And on Friday night I attended Alex Wisser's first solo at MOP gallery in Chippendale. Alex's large scale giclée prints were as beautiful and intoxicating as the works themselves; empty rooms, a distant past 'found' in the present as these homes were placed on the market.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

You might as well call this blog the 'Cityrail-blog' for the next week or so as all posts are behind-schedule and very definitely, out-of-timetable-order. Oh the hardship of the commuters life in Sydney!

But what the on earth could have possessed me to leave this fab Freya, FANTASIE, elomi, FAUVE lingerie & swimwear post on the back-burner for the past 2 to 3 weeks? Well I have been busy (yawn) and I have had a devilishly slow computer. Or is that a dervish-ly possessed computer that has had me spinning round-and-round - never mind I have come to my senses and here is what Kat & I saw at that FreyaFAUVEFANTASIE and elomi launch which also spun us both round and round and round...

Fortunately I had the company of Miss Katerina Roth again & as always bow to her superior knowledge of all things under the outerwear. Both our opinions on the quality and style of what we saw was reinforced while chatting with Janine from Eveden Group after the show and it went a little like this; Quality, Fit, Quality, Fit; and of course beautiful and fabulous styles! And all this in real womens sizes; for, you know, real women! Apparently they did have some trouble finding the right /real sized models for the parade; but as you can see they triumphed in the end.

Thanks Eveden & Symbol PR for having Street Fashion Sydney again at a simply fabulous Sydney launch. And girls, ladies, women; click those links at the top of the page to visit the lingerie brand websites to see all the styles sizing and fitting information.

From 3pm to 4pm on the 26th November, a limited audience will take part in a Victorian funeral procession orchestrated by artists Elodie Silberstein and Patricia Alvarez in Camperdown Cemetery. As would have occurred during a mourning ceremony in the 19th century, the audience will receive a black rosette to wear and mourning cookies to share.

Memorium #2 is to be a part of White Ribbon Day, the Australian campaign which seeks to prevent violence against women. The project investigates the mortality rate arising from domestic violence in the developed world. Intimate partner homicides account for one-fifth of all homicides in Australia. Of these, four out of five involve a man killing his female partner.

During the remembrance ceremony, Elodie Silberstein will position a clay sculpture in the cemetery; this sculpture will steadily decay and in so doing will raise issues of loss, rituality, humanity and collective responsibility. The highlight of the event will be the singing performance of Patricia Alvarez.

During her creative process, Elodie photographed historic cemeteries such as Cimetière du Père Lachaise (France) and La Recoleta cemetery (Argentina). She collected pearl memorial flowers; and post-mortem photography which was used to help people cope with grief. This theatrical celebration of death shows a drastic contrast with that of the contemporary post modern pragmatic and individualist society in which death has disappeared from the familial and social spheres to move into the medical one. Elodie’s creative process is documented on her blog: http://elodiesilberstein.blogspot.com/.

Patricia described the project as “a wonderful opportunity to honour death and the cyclical nature of life. Although the subject matter is sombre and sorrowful, to lead a procession that commemorates life and death is a noble act. The sharing of ritual immortalises the intangible and is a reaffirmation to those that have died, that we too will die, and perhaps see them again. To grieve with others, acknowledges and unifies our connection to nature, and how in life, death is an eternal phenomena”.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Hip, Happening, with some restrained hipsterism meets surf culture (?) and inner city cool. Sure that's an unlikely culture-combo but the Icon boys seem to know how to make it happen. Or to put it another way, the Pieces of Nowhere, Icon Brand HS11 launch went off. As it did last time only this time more so! Yes its been a while since I went out and enjoyed myself quite like this.

So part in homage to the previous post 'its a mans world' I started this post with a series of portraits from the night, some of the people you may recognise, yes I'm sure you will. AND I am having a little Icon Brand giveaway-see the bottom of the page...

And the bands played on, Jack Dawson, The Money Smokers - who seem'd to channel Mick Jagger and Angus 'Bon Scott' (lived and Drank) Young together..(last shot below). And Bridgemary Kiss all playing the very cool Darlinghurst rooftop venue, Hunky Dory Social Club!

If you see someone in the portrait shots you know, please get them to drop me a line; I think these shots may have a future well beyond this brief blog post. And- well, you-know; its nice to have a name on the picture if you get it hung in a major exhibition.. Well it would not be the first time!

Thanks to all the guys from Icon Brand, I don't know how you do it but do it you do! And thanks to the bands and DJs and the friendly barmen with the Sol beer and, well I din't try the Rekorderlig Cider but it looked very popular. and thanks guys for the goodie bag; mine contained not one but two little camera on chains! I cannot possibly wear two so I am giving one of the little cameras on a chain away, perfect for photographers; see T&C below.

All you have to do is 'like' my page and leave a comment under the Icon brands picture 'where you can buy Icon brand'. I will put your names in a hat at the end of the week (Sat 8th) and pull out a winner!